Families Give Thanks at “FamilyFit Feast” 
On November 17th, a group of eight families who have participated in Esperanza’s FamilyFit program over the past year gathered at our Hunting Park site for a “FamilyFit Feast” with food provided by Philabundance. Esperanza’s FamilyFit program offers education about nutrition, fitness and healthy lifestyle choices to entire families in a fun group setting; the next series of classes will start in February 2018. Said FamilyFit program director Debra Ortiz-Vasquez: “The parents are our Rock Stars! We had conversation starters that encouraged families to converse with one another such as, ‘What brought you joy today?’ Also, children said what they are grateful for and put their responses on the ‘Grateful Tree’ (below).”
Families were also asked to share about the difference that FamlyFit has made—said one parent, “My children learned a lot! And…they say, ‘Mommy, you do the same at home!'” When asked about the one thing they’d want to tell someone about FamilyFit, another parent responded: “Que FamilyFit me ayudo mucho con el estres que tenia y conocer a muchas personas muy amable! (That FamilyFit helped me a lot with the stress I had, and met a lot of very kind people!)”
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Milagros moved to Philadelphia in 2013—broken, lost, without hope, and with no family except for her then-13-year old daughter. That changed when she visited Esperanza for the first time less than a year later: “When I first walked into Esperanza I immediately felt that I was part of a family.”
